President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has recently appointed Ariel Francisco Nepomuceno as the new Administrator III of the Office of Civil Defense – an umbrella agency of the Department of National Defense.

Following his appointment, Nepomuceno stressed that he is really up for the task and expressed gratitude to the trust and confidence given by the Marcos Administration.

Nepomuceno took oath at the Office of the Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin last Wednesday at Malacañang.

"The environment at the Office of Civil Defense is a real working job and not easy so I immediately went yesterday to the office to start working after my oath taking," said Nepomuceno, who is a former member of the Philippine Military Academy Hinirang Class of 1987.

"The task is national and challenging so we have to start working now," he added.

The OCD is vital to the government's all-out response during times of calamities like floods, typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, among other disasters, in all areas to save more lives through evacuations and relief operations.

The agency — also under the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council — is also the leading government agency in handling reactions and management during calamities and administers a systematic program to lessen and avoid national disasters.

Nepomuceno is not new to the position of the OCD – having served as a director and executive officer in the agency during the time of former President Benigno AquinoIII from 2012 to 2013.

He replaced undersecretary Raymundo Ferrer who served for four months as OCD administrator.

"It looks like I'm just promoted now because I was a deputy before in the OCD at the time of Aquino," said Nepomuceno.

"But as what I have said the nature of work in the OCD is very busy, you have to prepare for upcoming calamities and hold your ground during calamities to save the people," he added.

Nepomuceno, awarded as the "Most Outstanding Graduate of the Social Science" of the University of the Philippines in 1989, also served the Bureau of Customs as deputy commissioner during the time of former Presidents Aquino and Rodrigo Duterte from 2013 to 2017.

During his time at the Bureau of Customs, he and his team have risked their lives for seizing billions of pesos worth of drugs and smuggled items. He also ordered the return of the infamous Canada waste to port of origin, and he was the first to use the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law.

He was a former Major Reserve in Air Force from 2006 to 2007, a Magna Cum Laude Graduate of the University of the Philippines and a holder of Executive MBA Degree from the Asian Institute of Management prior to his services to the government.